In an attempt to get their season back on track, the Los Angeles Lakers made the bold move of benching Austin Reaves in favor of Cam Reddish for the game against the Phoenix Suns. The change worked out, as the Lakers ended their three-game losing streak, and after the game, Reaves shared his thoughts on the benching.
“I’m a competitor,” Reaves said. “Truthfully, you don’t want to have that conversation. I would love to not have that, would love to have been playing better to not have those conversations, winning as a team. But my parents taught me at a young age that the coach is the coach and his decision regardless if you agree with it or don’t agree with it, you respect that and that’s what I did.”
You love that mindset from Reaves, and he then stressed the fact that the most important thing is to win games
“We had good dialogue back and forth on what we thought we could do to be better as a unit,” Reaves continued. “As I’ve spoke about the last two years I’ve been in the NBA and even before that is winning is the main thing.”
(starts at 1:14 mark):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz8ERgYt7Wk
As Reaves says, any player would prefer to not be in a position where those conversations need to be had. Coming into the game against the Suns, Reaves was averaging 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 41.6% from the field.
When you play like that, it just opens the door to a potential benching, and with the Lakers needing some size and defense, Reaves had to make way for Reddish. It’s safe to say, though, that the coaching staff has not lost faith in him by any means.
The 25-year-old played the entire fourth quarter and ended up playing over 35 minutes in the game. Reaves had 17 points, 1 rebound, 7 assists, and 1 steal, and made some big plays down the stretch to help get the win.
Darvin Ham Compared Austin Reaves To Manu Ginobili
The finest example of a great player coming off the bench for the betterment of the team was Manu Ginobili with the San Antonio Spurs. The Argentine had been an All-Star before the Spurs asked him to take on the bench role and Darvin Ham said Reaves is the Ginobili of the Lakers.
“Everyone knew Manu [Ginobili] was a starter – it was more about balancing the units. [Austin] still played 35 minutes,” Ham said. “His minutes weren’t going to go down; he’s gonna finish the game. He was huge down the stretch.”
Ginobili is really a great example for anyone in this situation. He willingly accepted that role and it helped the Spurs get to new heights. While I’m not sure Reaves will ever be as good as Ginobili was, he can certainly help the Lakers have a lot of success by embracing this role.
Cam Reddish Balled Out Against The Suns
Ham has come under fire a fair bit this season and so when the news came out that Reddish was being inserted into the lineup over Reaves, the pitchforks were out. Reddish had a terrible start to the season and it didn’t make a lot of sense to put him in, but it proved to be an inspired decision, as he had 17 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals.
The 24-year-old also led the team with 9 points in the fourth quarter, which included a huge three-pointer that gave the Lakers a five-point lead with just over a minute left. It’s fair to criticize Ham for some of his decisions this season, but he also deserves praise when a big call like this from him works out so well.
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